Best Party Ever

 On Saturday night, Matthew and I attended a beautiful event which was held for a not-so-wonderful reason.  It was a bon voyage party for a local activist Matthew knows who has pancreatic cancer.  This was not held as a depressing evening--it was lovingly thought-out and planned and a way for Paul to share his life with everyone he encountered from all walks of his life.  There were 500 guests, and we knew many people from the coast.
    We were at the Palace of Legion of Honor with the entrance encased in a huge plastic tent.  The first thing we encountered, after champagne, was the sound of a large band--14 piece orchestra--playing great music and an ice sculpture in the shape of a ship.  This was going to be a memorable evening.
  I took a few pictures, which I'll post here.  I didn't take too many because I was busy eating my way through the first room, having people sign my passport, and then sitting downstairs in the theater to hear everyone talk about Paul's life for well over an hour.  The passport asked us to find out his 2 nicknames and people who were related to him, at Harvard and businesses with him, elected officials from the coast and his health-care workers who are helping him now.  After getting all the signatures (people's name tags were color-coded, and we needed just one signature from each category--a great way to get us to mingle), we put the page into a gold bin for the drawing--for an iPad or Mac Air.  We didn't win, but it was fun to talk to people we didn't know.  Matthew's an elected official, so he signed many passports.
 The food was incredible...many stations set up in the first room with seafood, Asian, Italian, and servers carving roast beef, pork loin, or rack of lamb along with side dishes.  We didn't even know there was a room inside the museum with cheeses and meats for hors d'oeuvres (plus, they passed appetizers in all the rooms as well).  Then the desserts....two rooms and a huge dessert display.
ice sculpture


Gorgeous floral arrangements.  We were invited to take the smaller bouquets home from the tables and were also handed a gorgeous long-stem orange rose on our way out the door.
rack of lamb and gnocci


Tom just signed our passport (Harvard)
Past & present members of the mid-coast council

Paul up on stage

 Darn, I didn't get a picture of the dessert rooms--I was too busy eating and judging desserts with two men I'd just met.  
  I even danced!  It's been a long time and since Nancy Margulies was there alone and loves to dance, I got inspired to get out there.  We were joined by Angel and Lily, more coastsiders--in the girls' corner dancing to the big band's greatest hits...all in one song.  So fun!  
  I woke up Sunday morning feeling like I'd drunk a bottle of champagne instead of 3/4 of a glass.    
 

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